Tag: Technology

“Spirituality has always had a virtual aspect to it,” says anthropology professor Tom Boellsdorff. “People in Second Life can pray and do all kinds of things and find it completely spiritually fulfilling.” More →

"You can’t say that religious opinions made over 1, 000 years ago are valid for all times," says Gamal al-Banna, a reformist Muslim cleric in Egypt. "We must have a revolution in the understanding of Islam, a revolution almost like Martin Luther’s."

Catholic leaders have often expressed their opposition to certain uses of science, such as anything that threatens human life. But the Church has no objection to basic scientific research itself — from it. That work is honored as trying to understand what God created — in the case of an observatory in Arizona, the entire visible universe. More →

When a person has a religious experience, what happens within the brain? What kind of changes take place? In one experiment, brain scans examine the parts of the brain that are activated during prayer. In another, mystical and religious experiences are simulated by using bursts of electrical impulses. These experiments have created no small amount of controversy. More →

As Congress worked on the antiterrorism bill, proponents argued that the FBI and police need new tools to keep up with modern technology, while others expressed concern about violating privacy and other rights. Lucky Severson reports on the new search for the right balance between national security and civil liberties. More →

For many, the fundamental issue behind stem cell research is the moral status of tiny, one-week-old human embryos. Scientists think these cells can help them find cures for many severe illnesses, but harvesting those cells kills the embryos. Ethicists say the right and wrong of destroying even unwanted embryos in order to do promising medical research depends on what you think those embryos are.

R & E takes a sneak peek at The Potter’s House’s new ultra-contemporary high-tech 8,000-plus seat sanctuary. The new facility features Palm Pilots to assist new members, data connections for laptops, and a future language translation center that will be able to translate six languages simultaneously. More →